BETWEEN THE LINES

Time to roll back all gun bans

Exclusive: Joseph Farah wants to see automatics in the hands of the people

Joseph Farah is founder, editor and CEO of WND and a nationally syndicated columnist with Creators News Service.. He is the author or co-author of 13 books, including his latest, "The Tea Party Manifesto," and his classic, "Taking America Back," now in its third edition and 14th printing. Farah is the former editor of the legendary Sacramento Union and other major-market dailies.

Someone asked me recently what might make a good compromise with those at war with the Second Amendment.

My answer is there is no compromise. In fact, we have compromised too much in the past, opening the door for the banning of classifications of firearms that will, if unchecked and not reversed, lead inevitably to an American society devoid of the weapons of meaningful self-defense – both against criminals and future tyrants.

In my opinion, the National Rifle Association’s initiative to provide armed guards at every school in America is ill-advised, timid and, in the long run, counterproductive.

It could even be embraced by the left to expand what is rapidly becoming a police state in America.

The answer is not just to fight current gun grabs and future gun grabs, it’s to push for the rollback of all previous bans on the classification of firearms – including automatics.

I say this as someone immersed in the tactics and strategy of the left. The left always pushes for more than they expect to achieve politically. Their results are surprisingly effective over the long run.

When God-fearing, liberty-minded citizens see a tragedy like Sandy Hook, we need to push for more arms in the hands of good citizens, not fewer. The reason that massacre happened is because there were no good armed people around to counter the attack.

Having just returned from Israel, and having served there as a Middle East correspondent during the early days of terrorism, I can tell you that the first terror attacks were shootings. Armed terrorists would plot an attack on a café. But they were not successful, because Israel is a society where citizens are universally armed. So when terrorists would fire their first shots into a restaurant or other public place, they would be quickly shot down by armed citizens. This is why Middle East terrorists resorted to suicide bombings.

Switzerland also has a very low crime rate and has ben devoid of the kind of massacres we witnessed at Sandy Hook. Why? Because the Swiss people are heavily armed. You can see artillery pieces on the front lawns of Swiss homeowners. They have automatic weapons. This is the reason for the low crime rate, and, as an added benefit, it ensures against tyranny and foreign attack.

It’s time for those of us who believe in the Constitution to point to these examples as goals for America.

Let’s not just oppose gun grabs. Let’s lobby for both the expansion of a true understanding of and a complete respect for our unalienable right to bear arms – not just pea shooters, but firearms that are the equivalent of those used by the military and increasingly the civilian government bureaucracies like Homeland Security.

If the government acknowledges – and it does – that firearms prevent attacks on government officials, surely they also must admit firearms prevent attacks on private individuals.

It’s simple logic. It’s a winning argument.

We’ve compromised too much in the past and these compromises have opened the door for more gun grabs.

It’s time for the citizens to get on offense – demanding an expansion of the kind of firearms available to the American public.

Why should we trust a government that sends automatic weapons to the drug cartels in Mexico but denies them to honest, law-abiding American citizens?

Why should we trust a government that sends firearms and even anti-aircraft weapons and F-16s to Muslim Brotherhood groups in the Mideast, but denies them to honest, law-abiding American citizens?

Something is wrong here. Something is obviously wrong.

It’s not time to compromise. It’s time to demand our most basic civil rights. Remember, the Second Amendment is part of the Bill of Rights. Americans don’t compromise with the Bill of Rights. These are limitations on government power, not limitations on people power.

So let’s raise the stakes. Let’s up the ante. Instead of debating whether or not we will accept new infringements on our constitutional rights, let’s roll back the previous infringements of our constitutional rights – starting with every gun ban we’ve accepted over the last 150 years.

We might not be successful at getting all we demand. But we’ll sure reframe the debate and keep America from descending into tyranny.

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